Møre og Romsdal

Møre og Romsdal is a county in the northernmost part of the Vestlandet region of Norway, and borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde. The county was formely known as Romsdalen amt.

History

Ragnvald Eysteinsson, earl of Møre and Romsdal to 890 is via his son Gange Rolf ancestor of most of the royal families of Europe.

Districts

The county is conventionally divided into traditional districts. These are Nordmøre (northernmost), Romsdal (in the middle) and Sunnmøre (to the south). Despite commercial and cultural relations between the districts, there have always been traditional rivalry between them. Historically speaking, connections have been stronger between Nordmøre and Sør-Trøndelag to the north, Romsdal and Oppland to the east, and Sunnmøre and Sogn og Fjordane to the south, than internally. Differences in dialects between the three districts bear clear evidence of this. Due to geographical features—the county has many populated islands and is intersected by several deep fjords—Møre og Romsdal has been very dependent on boat traffic, and its main car ferry company, MRF, has existed since 1921.

Nordmøre

Aure (county's biggest wooden church; Liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline from offshore gas field, w/refinery, methanol plant)
Averøy (site of district's largest grotto, the Bremsnes cave, with traces of 10,000 yr old settlements of the Fosna culture)
Eide (traditional and modern limestone (marble) quarries and related crafts industry; the Atlanterhavsvegen coastal road)
Frei (location of 955 AD Viking battle Battle of Rastarkalv, between Haakon the Good and the sons of Erik Bloodaxe)
Gjemnes (south anchorage of KRIFAST suspension bridge Gjemnessundbrua with 108 m high towers and a free span of 623 m)
Halsa (traditional wooden boat building; Hollywood whale Keiko's voluntary retirement home and final resting place)
Kristiansund (district capital, the county's oil industry capital, known for its export of cod for bacalao to Spain and Portugal)
Rindal (traditionally known for very snowy winters and lots of cross-country skiing, former home of several ski factories)
Smøla (home of the Kulisteinen from AD 1034, the rune stone with the first known mention of the country's name "Norway")
Sunndal (county's largest-area municipality, deep U-shape valley, location of Europe's soon-to-be-largest aluminium works)
Surnadal (location of Surna, one of the country's richest and most popular salmon rivers, a European scale tourist attraction)
Tingvoll (medieval stone church from ca 1180 AD; 4000–5000 yr old artistic rock carvings; self-declared "ecology municipality")

Romsdal

Aukra (site of Norway's best-known shipwreck and rescue operation of the 1900s, of cargo vessel Rokta April 4, 1938)
Fræna (70 m deep limestone grotto Trollkirka, lit. "Troll's Church"; marble industry; heavy machinery producer Moxy Trucks)
Midsund (site of stone wall constituting westernmost coastal part of border between Denmark-Norway and Sweden 1658–1660)
Molde (district capital and county administrative capital, host of the annual Molde International Jazz Festival since 1961)
Nesset (childhood home of Nobel prize laureate and playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; also: Mardalsfossen waterfall)
Rauma (with Åndalsnes, terminus of county's only railroad, Raumabanen, connected to Dovrebanen at Dombås, Oppland)
Sandøy (county's smallest-area municipality; 871 isles, 5 inhabited; known for its Ona lighthouse of 1867, and local pottery)
Vestnes (traditional shipbuilding, now evolved into modern shipyards; dairy industry exporting unique cheese Ridderost)

Sunnmøre

Giske
Haram (Municipality-Center is Brattvåg, being the industrial sweetspot of Sunnmøre, housing both Rolls-Royce and Aker Yards Factories. 'Rolls-Royce Deck Machinery Brattvåg' is the World's largest winch-manufacturer)
Hareid
Herøy
Norddal
Sande
Skodje
Stordal
Stranda
Sula
Sykkylven
Ulstein
Vanylven
Volda (educational and cultural centre, home of Norway's first rural lower secondary school; respected site of media education)
Ørskog
Ørsta (birthplace of linguist Ivar Aasen and hymn writer Anders Hovden; known for mountainous terrain and a diverse economy)
Ålesund (the largest city in the region, known for its many Art Nouveau buildings partly sponsored by German Kaiser Wilhelm after 1904 fire)

Municipalities

Møre og Romsdal has a total of 38 municipalities:

External links

}}

Political map of Møre og Romsdal, showing the municipalities

Counties of Norway | Møre og Romsdal